


"Pretty"

by GiveMeHeresy



Series: Astro-Synchronous [1]
Category: Mass Effect, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Awkwardness, Drabble, F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Xenophilia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-04-03
Packaged: 2018-10-14 11:00:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10535091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GiveMeHeresy/pseuds/GiveMeHeresy
Summary: However, he doesn't spend his time staring. Either he has no interest, he is skilled at hiding it, or he's expressing it in a way she can't pinpoint. And as he and his people have said, they aren't ones to hide their emotion. Another mystery to unlock.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Something short and silly / stupid 'cause I love these two too much for my heart to handle.
> 
> More to come.

* * *

 

People back home weren't fond of Devon Ryder, as least, not in any genuine way - any real way so that she could feel that peculiar tingle in her chest when she knows that she is loved by someone. It was some part due to her Biotic ability, and some part...just how she was as a person. Things she either couldn't, or weren't really necessary to change unless she wanted to take herself apart.  
  
And God almighty, she never realized how much she needed that until now. Even so, Devon didn't expect to find this comfort in the presence of a member of the only species native to Andromeda that didn't attacked them upon first contact. She finds herself thinking that it's crazy how things work in this galaxy, like the rule book has turned itself upside down.  
  
And that rule book put her in the Tech Lab at random intervals, where she would watch their new Angaran ally mess with his weapons. He gave her permission. It's not as if she all of a sudden came up with this idea to stare at him like some kind of creep. Jaal is new, yes, in more ways than she can comprehend. She is in there, not only because she finds watching him taking things apart and putting them back together almost as calming as if she were doing it herself (and she would, but she doesn't have deft enough hand, in her opinion), not only because she finds it a little educational in regards to weapon repair and modification, but also because he is new. Devon can imagine he feels the same way, with all these new species surrounding him, though maybe his feelings lean more towards animosity and trepidation rather than fascination, thanks to the kett.  
  
However, he doesn't spend his time staring. Either he has no interest, he is skilled at hiding it, or he's expressing it in a way she can't pinpoint. And as he and his people have said, they aren't ones to hide their emotion. Another mystery to unlock.  
  
The angara don't look like anything she's ever seen in her life. Not from any species in the Milky Way, not from vids or books, not from her wildest imaginings. They are...rather beautiful, with the graduating cool colors on their skin, and the figurative depth of their eyes. The rofjinn, and their other fashions, are quite lovely as well. And the voices...  
  
Jaal is no exception, and she hopes, hopes to whatever higher power watches over them in Andromeda, that he doesn't notice that she's staring at him instead of what he's doing with his hands.  
  
"What's on your mind, Pathfinder?"  
  
_Shit._  
  
Devon snaps out of it and meets his eye. He's stopped his work, and is instead looking at her curiously.  
  
"Uhh..." she shifts in her seat on one of the crates stacked in the room, "...nothing. No, nothing. Not really. Just spacing out."  
  
"Really?" He questions. "It seems as if you were actually staring at me with intent."  
  
The Pathfinder shakes her head as she feels her face heating up. Stupid idiot. The last thing he or any of his own need to think about you is that you're a weirdo.  
  
She runs a hand back through her hair, snow-white, and pulls it out of her eyes. Well...I...uh...would it be weird if I said I think you're pretty?"  
  
Jaal says nothing for a moment, only stares, which sets off alarm bells in Devon's head. _Stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid stupid._ _In charge of finding people safe places to build a future and you can't even figure out how to not be like this._  
  
A flanging laugh cuts off her self-depreciation. Jaal has turned back to his work, but he has amusement curling his thin lips into a smile, and lighting up his cat-like eyes.  
  
"No. Not at all. Thank you, in fact," he says. "Would it be weird if I thought _you_ were pretty?"  
  
Devon blinks rapidly. Did he really just say that? Why would he think she's pretty? Is it some sort of retaliation for her saying so about him? She feels her face warming up again. So much for keeping things professional, cut-and-dry.  
  
"...you think I'm pretty?"  
  
"I do."  
  
Oh.

This is new. Devon hasn't been called pretty or anything of that manner by anyone that wasn't her family or her close circle of (few) friends back at home...unless they wanted something from her. In fact, her appearance had a tendency to put people off, with her white hair and striking silver eyes. She often got wierd looks from new people, or people in public, who always turned and whispered to the person next to them...

 _Alright. Enough of that._  
  
She inclines her head with a bemused grin on her face. "What makes an alien pretty to an angara?"  
  
Jaal looks at her out of the corner of his vision. "That's something to find out, isn't it?"  
  
She's not sure how to respond to that, and she feels a bit weird. He says nothing else, only continues his work with whatever he's decided to piece back together now (looks something like a kett weapon from where she's sitting.)  
  
Wait a minute...  
  
...is this what flirting feels like?


End file.
